harnyo@grad1.cis.upenn.edu (06/10/89)
Hi,
I have a few questions that may have been discussed before. I have 2.6 MB
memory on my 286 Compaq which supports LIM 3.2. I am also using Compaq
Dos 3.31.
o Which type of memory should I configure for best performance ?
(Exp vs. Ext) ? I can have both of them.
o In running WIndows 286, how do I make use of the extra memory
to open more applications instead of converting all to cache
memory (using Smartdrive.sys). I read from the documentation
that it supports only LIM 4.0 ?
o Will my above configuration be sufficient to run OS/2 with
presentation manager ? What about Unix ?
I would appreciate any pointers or suggestions. Thanks !!
Andy
harnyo@eniac.seas.upenn.edupatrickd@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick Deupree) (06/12/89)
In article <11884@netnews.upenn.edu> harnyo@grad1.cis.upenn.edu () writes: > > o Which type of memory should I configure for best performance ? > (Exp vs. Ext) ? I can have both of them. To swap processes in Windows you should use expanded memory. Extended just buys you 64K (Windows uses it for something that I havn't figured out yet). > o In running WIndows 286, how do I make use of the extra memory > to open more applications instead of converting all to cache > memory (using Smartdrive.sys). I read from the documentation > that it supports only LIM 4.0 ? This is where life gets tricky. You basically need large frame EMS to do this. So, depending on what kind of memory you have in your system, you may or may not be able to do this. You didn't mention what kind of memory card you have in your system, so I have no clue if it's large frame or not. However, I can tell you that the AST Rampage and the Intel Above Board + are large frame EMS. Then comes backfilling. To get the best results for process swapping you should backfill your computer from 256K on. This basically means that you tell your computer that you have 256K on the motherboard (this needs to be set via hardware switches) and then tell the expanded memory board to start at 256K on the motherboard. > o Will my above configuration be sufficient to run OS/2 with > presentation manager ? What about Unix ? The configuration that works best for Windows won't work for OS/2. In their infinitly grand way of doing things, Windows uses expanded memory, OS2 uses extended memory. I'm not sure why Microsoft (or IBM?) did this, but that's how it is. I believe that Unix uses extended memory also. -- "I place my faith in fools. Self confidence, my friends call it." -Edgar Allen Poe Patrick Deupree -> patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us
bturner@hpcvlx.HP.COM (Bill Turner) (06/14/89)
> The configuration that works best for Windows won't work for OS/2. In their > infinitly grand way of doing things, Windows uses expanded memory, OS2 uses > extended memory. I'm not sure why Microsoft (or IBM?) did this, but that's > how it is. I believe that Unix uses extended memory also. The reason for this is that Windows is running under MS-DOS, and therefore in real (8086) mode, while OS/2 is more of a "real" operating system, and uses the protect mode of the '286. Expanded memory allows hardware to bankswitch memory under the 1MB limit of real mode, while extended memory IS protect-mode memory, above the 1MB limit. (It also helps to consider the history of MSWindows -- when it was originally to be released, the AT was not yet released...) --Bill Turner (bturner@hp-pcd.hp.com) HP Corvallis Information Systems
patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick Deupree) (06/19/89)
> The configuration that works best for Windows won't work for OS/2. In their > infinitly grand way of doing things, Windows uses expanded memory, OS2 uses > extended memory. I'm not sure why Microsoft (or IBM?) did this, but that's > how it is. I believe that Unix uses extended memory also. > I must apologize for this posting that I made. I came down a little bit hard on the extended/expanded memory thing because I have to listen to customers complain about the fact that extended memory doesn't buy them much in Windows. I guess it annoys me as well since I've got a PS/2 model 30/286 that is almost impossible to set up with expanded memory (and it is impossible to set it up the way that would work best). I realize now, though, that extended is basically the best memory to use and expanded was just a cludge that was necessary to get things working right on non-protected mode machines. -- "I place my faith in fools. Self confidence, my friends call it." -Edgar Allen Poe Patrick Deupree -> patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us
donohoe@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (douglas.c.donohoe) (06/20/89)
In article <8729@chinet.chi.il.us>, patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick Deupree) writes: > > The configuration that works best for Windows won't work for OS/2. In their > > infinitly grand way of doing things, Windows uses expanded memory, OS2 uses > > extended memory. I'm not sure why Microsoft (or IBM?) did this, but that's > > how it is. I believe that Unix uses extended memory also. > > > I must apologize for this posting that I made. I came down a little bit hard > on the extended/expanded memory thing because I have to listen to customers > complain about the fact that extended memory doesn't buy them much in > Windows. . . . > I realize now, though, that extended is basically the best memory to use and > expanded was just a cludge that was necessary to get things working right on > non-protected mode machines. > Patrick Deupree -> patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us I am trying to use windows effectively in both an AT&T PC6300 as well as an AT&T PC6386 WGS. In the 6386 I have 3M of extended memory which I have configured as 200k of Ramdrive, 400k of Smart Drive and the rest as plain extended memory. Windows 2.03 finds the extended memory with no problem and appears to use it effectively (greedily?). The Ramdrive appears to only be used for temporary files; the cache appears to do a pretty good job of buffering the hard disk as I keep it compacted. Is there a different configuration that might be more optimum? Windows seems to be relatively slow when I use a COMMAND window and run Dos programs, e.g. chkdsk. a 2 Mb I have recently put^expanded memory into my 6300. I have followed the Windows 1.03 manual in trying to set it up, but it does not seem to be effective. In particular they indicate that a large Ramdrive is the best way to have memory for swapping. Again the Ramdrive seems to only be used for temporary files. I have both the Ramdrive that came with 1.03 and the Ramdrive for Dos 3.3 and see no difference. All of the applications (that came with Windows) appear to stay resident in the lower 640K. Also there seems to be a lot of swapping activity with the hard disk, but I cannot find any temporary files (using Norton Utilities) that were generated during the session. Any help in getting this configuration optimized would be appreciated. An unrelated item is that there is a program called WIN86.EXE in the WIN/386 package. Before I got extended memory I could not get WIN386.EXE to run because of insufficient memory (I have since found out how to do so). However, WIN86 would run. I believe that WIN86 is called by WIN386. What additional capabilities are made available by WIN386 and is WIN86 equivalent to WIN286? Thanks for any information you can give me. Please reply to one of the Email addresses below unless you feel it is of general interest to the net. Thanks again, -- Doug Donohoe Email: att!homxc!5113dcd Douglas_C_Donohoe@att.att.com Phone: 201-949-5382 Snail: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 3K-613, Holmdel, NJ 07733